Leigh Fatzinger (News - Alert), Vice President of Marketing for Citel, recently sat down with me to discuss SIP-based communications and Citel’s upcoming presentation at ITEXPO (News - Alert).

 

Citel calls itself “The VoIP Migration Company,” developing network-edge products that enable enterprises to realize the cost and productivity benefits of IP telephony, while leveraging existing telecom and datacom investments. Read more about the company here.

 

We have spent much of the last 12 months listening to our customers tell us how they see VoIP migration and how our industry benefits them.  When VoIP was in its infancy, most manufacturers were touting new acronyms, new products, and so on, but not really listening to what customers wanted.  This led to a lot of market confusion, and a reticence to change.  We realized that the technology itself can be complicated, but the way we message and the way we deliver our products had to be simple.  It is vital that VoIP can be understood and practical for any enterprise, from the Fortune 500 with a large IT staff all the way down to the company where the CEO and the IT manager are the same person.  Our product development and messaging are continually being refined and focused to deliver easy to understand, easy to deploy VoIP solutions.

Our company relies on the growth of IP telephony.  The Portico TVA fits the segment of the market requiring the best option for their business when it comes to VoIP migration. We realized, to some extent, that every customer wants to write his own case study.  They don’t want to be told what’s best for the vendor, they want to learn what’s best for them.  We feel this strategy plays well for the growth of enterprise VoIP telephony, as well as the growth of Citel.

How has SIP changed communications?

SIP has the potential to provide the same level of standards and interoperability in voice communications that GSM has in mobile communications.  That said, it is crucial that manufacturers adhere to the developing standards to create an environment of choice and simplicity for enterprises who will be adopting, and accelerating, VoIP services and applications. To that end, SIP is a powerful protocol — it is the most effective means we have found to enable legacy endpoints with customized VoIP features across dozens of different legacy manufacturers.  

“How can we simplify the migration to IP telephony?”  I think most businesses realize the benefits of VoIP — the industry, both consumer and enterprise players, have done a good job in that area.  There is a foundational perception that VoIP can reduce operational costs, enhance user productivity, deliver new applications, and so on.  So, the “why” of VoIP is covered.  How to best get there is still a subject of confusion and debate.  “What do I do with my existing infrastructure?” “Is a new LAN really necessary?” “What about disruption and retraining?”  If these areas aren’t given full consideration, the customer will likely be disappointed, and they’ll wind up with an expensive, brand new system utilized at the same, or even lower, capacity as their legacy systems.  

Our device, the Portico TVA, is not designed for use in every application, so we go into every scenario with the ability to be a little more unbiased.  There are certainly applications that require new IP handsets, new LAN, new wiring, retraining, etc.  But in many areas, existing endpoints (digital or analog telephones) are equally or better suited to deliver VoIP applications as new IP handsets.  In most cases, there can be a balance of both. This works especially well in SMEs where an enterprise can leverage existing investments in call center, customer service, or manufacturing departments, and deploy new IP handsets for key executives.  In such cases, the customer comes away having taken advantage of an often underutilized asset in new technology deployments: leverage.

What do you think the future of the market is?

This is a very exciting time in the market, both because of the growth potential and the real benefits our industry stands to offer the market.  But there is also uncertainty, especially in the area of endpoints.  Certainly, every user needs an endpoint of some type — whether it be IP handset, existing handset, softphone client, or mobile device.  This area is evolving dramatically, which leads to users asking what the best choice is at this point in time.  “If I invest in a $300 IP handset, will it give me the same life or better as what is sitting on my desk today?”  This is the question we ask of every one of our customers.

The U.S. offers a very strong, condensed opportunity for growth, both in VoIP services and equipment, although we are seeing some market segments outside the U.S., certainly continental Europe, which are adopting VoIP at an equal or greater pace then the U.S..  China will also be a major player, although we see a huge opportunity for legacy PBX equipment to be redeployed there in the future.

Google + Spectrum = a positive paradigm shift away from the traditional telco stronghold of raw service with no content depth. Apple (News - Alert) + mobile devices = a positive paradigm shift away from the mediocre mobile interfaces consumers have been offered in the past.  Both stand to change the way we interact with networks and each other.

Microsoft appears to be entering the VoIP market very consciously and smartly, and stands much to gain from its share of the operating system, server, and browser markets.  In addition, enterprises trust Microsoft to provide quality products.  What is left to be seen is the adoption of Microsoft’s endpoints as the exclusive method of voice communications.

Wireless stands to have a large impact on VoIP as applications continue to emerge that make the mobile device a seamless extension of the central enterprise platform infrastructure.  Many companies have launched clever and useful applications enabling a user to utilize a carrier’s voice or data network as a means of making phone calls.  And wireless will continue to drive presence and virtual office, enabling enterprises to become even more geographically disbursed, without the risk of being disconnected from the central network.

TDM networks will experience further erosion into all-IP networks, and enterprises of all sizes will continue to outsource non-core infrastructure and applications.  VoIP is a part of that trend, just as Web site hosting became mainstream in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. Mobility has been evolving over the last seven years — the next five years will bring “seamless mobility” to the enterprise.

“Simplification” is a key word we pay a lot of attention to in product development, sales, and marketing at Citel.  What complexity and confusion can we reduce out of the VoIP migration process to make the transition more seamless to every user, while at the same time not sacrificing functionality, survivability, or productivity offered by IP telephony.  This applies both to service providers offering hosted VoIP and enterprises considering it.  Service providers want the ability to sell a hosted IP service that is easy for customers to understand and embrace, with minimal objections to answer.  Enterprises want the ability to benefit from VoIP without all the obstacles and headaches.  With a little research, both service providers and enterprises can get what they want out of the technology.

Service providers need to simplify their hosted offerings to grow adoption of these services and get an early start on the impending “land grab” for VoIP services.  Enterprises need to simplify their migration strategies to remain competitive.  This presentation offers best practices for both sides of the equation in the migration to VoIP.  

Citel has emerged as a leading player in simple to deploy, cost-effective, straightforward options to migrate to IP telephony.  This makes the obstacles, including high CAPEX, legacy infrastructure, and business disruption, easier to manage.  Enterprises can let the debate of endpoints work itself out while obtaining all the benefits of IP telephony today, and make longer term decisions more sensibly and cost-effectively.

TDM networks will continue to decline, but TDM equipment will continue to be utilized with IP functionality.  The endpoint debate will continue to rage on, as enterprises hold on to what they know and are comfortable with.  I believe we’ll be surprised at how many enterprises have migrated to IP telephony making adequate or superior use of their existing infrastructure to gain the benefits of VoIP.  Just as mobile users can utilize existing handset infrastructure to gain the benefits of VoIP with CDMA or EDGE data networks, enterprise users can leverage existing handsets and wiring to get VoIP services and applications to their desktop.